eCommerce - Smooth Flow

Numerous shopping cart services are available across the web. The following information will provide you with what is critical about an eCommerce system and at the end you will find some additional tips in eCommerce setup.

Essentials

confidence in the protection of their credit card information, facilitated by PCI Security

understanding the shipping before investing time in shopping

being able to contact and communicate (not just email into a hope they respond address) either phone or webchat if there is an issue.

PCI and Security

Online shopping is undergoing rapid growth as shoppers gain better access and understanding of what makes it safe to shop online.

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) has strict guidelines in place to protect consumers, themselves and service providers from fraud. You have probably heard of SSL (the https padlock) which basically means the connection from you computer to the server is encrypted. This only protects the data transmission not necessarily the storage of credit card details. PCI compliance guidelines outline the responsibility of the site owner and the server environment and how credit card details can be used and stored.

On many open source systems the server PCI compliance is the responsibility of the site owner. In enterprise grade SaaS environments it is often handled by the system supplier to maintain ongoing compliance status.

On Adobe Business Catalyst the PCI compliance is managed by Adobe engineers in conjunction with Credit Card Merchant Provider companies and Payment Gateway providers. Site owners need to take no action apart from ensure they follow the agreement with their Merchant facility provider.

Often on a Open Source server a site owner needs to have a purchased SSL certificate installed and possibly a dedicated Ip Address assigned. SSL Certificate is normally renewed annually.

On the Adobe Business Catalyst eCommerce engine a common SSL certificate is provided without additional cost. All shopping cart checkout systems should be configured to be SSL secure regardless of hosting.

PCI guidelines also outline what you must inform your site customers about the shopping processes, policies and how their data is used and stored etc.

Products and Catalog Segmentation

Products can be listed into single or multiple catalogue groups. In addition products can be inserted inline into other areas of a site or directly into a newsletter etc. The ability to insert a product directly into a blog or newsletter etc is a definitive advantage over most other eCommerce systems available, this is an example of a single product insert.

This product is unavailable or out of stock.

Shipping Manager

Control which countries you will see into by shipping control. Shopping cart checkout accepts or prohibits delivery to countries based on desired criteria.

In addition it is possible to set specific shipping criteria to catalogue groups, or products